Mr. Bennet removed his spectacles and set them on his desk. “It was not an easy decision, and I am rather tired of having Lizzy paint me as the villain of the piece because I attempted to keep my marriage intact.”
“Having not been in your position, I cannot judge. Elizabeth is the one you need to convince. Incidentally, there is a slight possibility she and I may have a Sidhe child because we were bound together with Sidhe blood. I hope we do not, since I would not like to give up a child to be raised in Faerie.”
Mr. Bennet’s lips curled with distaste. “You will have to forgiveme if I believe any fay ritual is meaningless.”
Darcy inclined his head. “You are entitled to your opinions. In my experience, the ritual we underwent is quite binding, and in some ways more so than a traditional mortal marriage.”
“You do not find mortal marriage binding?”
“It is different.” Darcy closed his eyes and focused his attention on Elizabeth. “Right now Elizabeth is sitting in the arm chair next to the hearth. She has her right arm raised like this as she explains to her mother – I cannot quite catch it – no, it is about the wedding of Lady Frederica Fitzwilliam to Viscount Eversleigh. She is shocked at your wife’s manner of disciplining your younger daughters, and she is pleased because she can feel my attention on her.” He opened his eyes. “That comes with the fay binding of blood right.”
“You gave up your privacy? I am glad to be spared that.”
“Only when we choose to have it so. I can block her from seeing what I am doing when I wish for privacy.”
“That will only be trouble. She will wonder what you were doing and suspect the worst.”
Clearly there was no moving Mr. Bennet from his prejudices. “In any case, I thank you for your permission. I will rejoin Elizabeth now. I suspect your wife may have more questions for me.”
“Perhaps I will accompany you.”
“HOW HAS IT BEEN HEREsince your return, Mama?” asked Elizabeth. “Are the neighbors acknowledging you?”
“Some still do. No one is aware of Aelfric’s existence, only that I was spellbound. People who knew me long ago have accepted the change fairly well. Others, like that silly Lady Lucas, do not know what to do with me. At least it has stopped the gossip about your magic, since mysituation is more scandalous. It will be a long time before the people of Meryton accept a woman with magic.”
Her mother truly had changed if she now saw her dear friend Lady Lucas as silly!
“I am sorry there has been gossip about you,” said Elizabeth. There had always been gossip about Mrs. Bennet, but before it had been about her lack of manners.
“It is nothing. Oh, Lizzy, I was so worried for you! All that frightening news about sorcery and Great Spells and mages dying, and I knew you were likely in the midst of it. I wrote to Matlock House asking for your whereabouts, and Lady Matlock herself sent me the kindest note, despite her own bereavement, that you were quite well and would no doubt contact me soon. But she did not tell me where you were, and that worried me even more.”
“I did not mean to worry you. I was in Faerie while the sorcerers were at Rosings, but I returned as soon as they were dead. All I saw was the aftermath of the Great Spell. Most of the time since then I have been at Rosings relearning how to manage my magic without accidentally setting anything on fire. All of us who were present in the aftermath of the Great Spell were caught up in its magic, and Viscount Eversleigh would not let any of us leave until we mastered the changes. It was quite the magical muddle.”
A shadow crossed Mrs. Bennet’s face. “The newspaper said one of the sorcerers was a Mr. Wickham. We have all been wondering if that could possibly be our Mr. Wickham, but none of us could believe it.”
“I fear it was him. He fled the country after seeing the other sorcerers die. He apparently thought sorcerers would be safe outside England, but the Great Spell did not stop at our borders. He died the first time he tried a spell.” None of them had thought to consider what might happen outside England, but reports had come quickly of sorcerers dying across Europe. Italy was in turmoil after the loss of their ruling sorcerers,and there had been interesting rumors about sudden deaths among Napoleon’s aides.
“Viscount Eversleigh – is he Aelfric’s brother, then? I cannot think of another way you could beshurinn.”
“That is correct.”
Miss Bennet dropped her voice. “How is Aelfric? I have heard nothing.”
Elizabeth smiled. “He is presently enamored of a young woman and is busy with her. There is no cause to worry.”
“But he lost his father to the Great Spell...” Mrs. Bennet went silent. Even after all this time, she apparently was not indifferent to the memory of Oberon.
“Aelfric is as well as anyone can expect. Oberon had already gone into his decline, so Aelfric had lost him already.” Aelfric was still badly shaken by his experiences with the sorcerers, but he would not thank her for sharing that information.
“Are you still living at Rosings?” asked Jane, clearly eager to change the subject away from Aelfric.
“No, I went to London a fortnight ago. Viscount Eversleigh, Mr. Darcy, and Colonel Fitzwilliam, Lord Matlock’s son, had to meet with the Prime Minister and his cabinet to tell them about the sorcerers and the Great Spell. Aelfric was with them part of the time because Lord Eversleigh felt they would be more inclined to believe him in the face of Aelfric’s evidence. Then they had to inform the Collegium, which was very difficult, especially after two more mages died while performing sorcery. Now the Collegium is disbanded, and Lord Eversleigh has started planning a new organization of mages.” Most of the planning was being done by Frederica and Lady Matlock, but it was better not to mention that. “Darcy continues to meet with the Foreign Secretary about the new relationship with Faerie.”
Mrs. Bennet frowned. “Where have you been staying? AtMatlock House?”
Elizabeth met her mother’s eyes with a level look. She could not keep the fact of their wedding hidden forever. “I have a confession to make. Lady Matlock insisted on having an immediate marriage service after we claimed blood right. Lord Matlock managed to get us a license even though I was underage, but we decided we would not announce the marriage until after my father gives his permission.” Her purported adoption by Lord Matlock was another thing better left unmentioned. “I have been staying at Darcy House, naturally. We came here as soon as Mr. Darcy could get away.”
Mrs. Bennet clasped her hands to her heart. “Married already? Mrs. Darcy! Does that not sound fine?”
